House Republicans took a significant step Wednesday in an effort to overhaul the nation’s foreign lobbying disclosure regulations amid scandals in the influence sector.

The House Judiciary Committee advanced as amended, 15-6 along party lines, the measure that would give the Justice Department new subpoena-like investigative powers. That new authority sparked controversy among the panel’s Democrats.

A bill to expand congressional oversight over how the Department of Homeland Security works with the private sector to disclose cyber vulnerabilities is now before the Senate after it passed the House by voice vote last week.

The bill, introduced by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, would require DHS to submit an annual report to Congress describing the process the federal government uses to disclose cybersecurity flaws it discovers to the private sector and other affected organizations. The bill would include information about how DHS is working with other federal agencies and managers of private cyber infrastructure to mitigate susceptibility to cyberattacks.

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner said the change in the DOJ‘s marijuana policy was a “trampling of Colorado’s right, its voters.” (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions drew strong criticism from lawmakers Thursday for changing a Justice Department policy on marijuana enforcement that had allowed states to move forward on legalizing the drug’s recreational and medical use.

Sessions’ move upsets the uneasy status quo between state laws that legalize marijuana and the federal laws against possession and distribution, which was set up by Obama administration guidelines from the Justice Department. Sessions rescinded the Obama guidelines Thursday, which cast uncertainty on what had been a growing pot industry just days after California implemented a recreational pot law.

Vice President Mike Pence presided over the Senate early Wednesday as it passed a final version of the GOP tax plan along party lines. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

By RYAN McCRIMMON and PAUL M. KRAWZAK

The Senate early Wednesday passed a final version of the GOP tax plan, leaving Republicans and President Donald Trump within striking distance of the most sweeping overhaul of the tax code in decades and their top policy goal for the year.

The longest-serving current member on Capitol Hill faced allegations of sexual harassment from several women. He’d admitted to reaching a monetary settlement with a former staffer who accused him of unwanted sexual advances.

Former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown walks to the federal courthouse in Jacksonville, Florida, during her trial on federal fraud and tax charges in May. She’ll learn her fate when a judge announces her sentence next month. (Bob Self/The Florida Times-Union via AP file photo)

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, center left, with Rep. Mark Sanford to his right and then-Gov. Nikki Haley, second from right, attend a memorial service commemorating the anniversary of the 2015 mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images file photo)

On Dec. 14, 2012, Elizabeth Esty was attending a social media workshop for new members of Congress at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She had been elected to represent Connecticut’s 5th District a month earlier.

“I raised my hand and I said, ‘Here’s an example right now — I’m getting texts and alerts that there’s been a shooting and we don’t know what happened,’” she said.

Ben Bradlee, former editor of the Washington Post, returns to his seat as then-President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton look on after Bradlee was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in 2013. (Alex Wong/Getty Images file photo)

HBO’s new documentary “The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee” will make its world premiere in D.C. this evening.

The film is about the late legendary Washington Post executive editor who died in Washington in October 2014 at 93. The film debuts on the network Dec. 4.